Chuckle! Mortising? If you could see my red face (embarrassment), maybe you'd understand.
I hate wood work, and I know almost nothing about it. I'm not sure I know what a mortise is. The wood work I've done is for pattern making, and I work like a machinist, not a wood worker.
End mills are available in a huge array of configurations, starting with stub models that are intended for slotting, right up to the long ones (dies sinks) intended for milling large faces or deep pockets. I think the best advice I could offer is to buy that which best serves your purpose, and restrict their use to wood alone. Once you've run a metal cutting tool on metal, that fine edge you need for machining wood without splintering is gone. Carbide end mills are now cheaper to buy than HSS, something I am still struggling with. It goes without saying, they'll serve you better than HSS will in the long run. Choose 2 flute cutters for wood, not 3 or more. Run them flat out---even if they're HSS. You won't be over driving them.
If you have a choice, carbide should be a C2 grade, best for wear resistance, and the choice for almost all non-ferrous use. If they're the newer carbide (micrograin), you may not have a choice, but anything you get will perform quite well, especially in wood. Look at machining wood much the same as machining aluminum. Greater chip relief is desired, as well as more generous cutting reliefs and rake angles. HSS end mills are available with grinds for aluminum, and they are generally marked clearly on the shanks if they are. They have greater relief angles, and often polished flutes, so they are better suited for wood than would be steel cutting tools.
Key is the file, which must not cut aggressively. I've posted more comments on this addressed to Karl. I really don't recommend a stone, although it certainly can do the job, albeit with a caveat.
Moving such things isn't a problem if you incorporate some pipe (and it's on concrete). Once you have a machine on a few pieces of pipe, assuming you have concrete as a floor, you can move it anywhere you desire, usually without assistance. You have to keep juggling the pipe as it moves under the rolling machine, so having extra hands can be useful, but not necessary. You can move a machine that weighs tons by that method.
Yep. All depends on the work at hand. I don't care how large one's machine may be, a job always comes along that won't fit. Murphy's law! Still, in general, I understand your comments and agree. Sounds like you've given this some good thought before jumping.
Cool! You do understand!
You don't really need that reference hole, not as long as you have some fixed datum points as I suggested. If you had to make parts to print, you'd understand that you're not always at liberty to stab in a tooling hole, so you learn to work from surfaces that are available to you. In keeping with that thought, when you do multiple pieces, it's really nice to hold them identical in size (deduct from that, *on size*, not from one end of the tolerance to the other), even when it doesn't matter. That way you can use any edge as a reference point, a situation that often arises. That's all a part of the things you learn as you progress in the trade. Might not make much sense to a beginner, but it will the first time you encounter a problem that can't be otherwise solved. I have the T shirt on that one.
Oh yeah! An indicator held by anything but the spindle won't help you make setups as they relate to the spindle. You can find center of anything that you can span using an indicator. Even square or irregular stuff. Hex, octagon, etc. You can locate dead center of a shaft, or your vise, and do it reliably. Using the drill chuck, as you've already suggested, you sweep sides of items, locating the low point, then make them identical @ 180 degree intervals---which often necessitates moving the indicator off the part by raising the quill so you can index to the opposite side. It's like sweeping a bore, but working on the opposite face. Get creative. There's really no rules on how you can use your DTI---and it doesn't matter if you introduce error by offsetting the probe-----not as long as you're making comparative readings, one against the other. You don't care if the reading has any particular value, you're just trying to get surfaces to read the same. Center.
See above. You work *from* the spindle.
In wood, or aluminum, that's likely to be fine, but keep your quill as short as possible at all times. That keeps the machine in the most rigid posture. Being a mill/drill, you'll have to compromise on that, but it's not likely to be a big deal unless you use some large cutters, or take some unreasonable cuts. Non issue in wood.
Welcome! Hope some of my ravings help. Do rely on others, especially if they're skilled. Learning from self taught people can have its own set of problems, depending on where they got their information. Learning how to do something stupid from someone that does it that way doesn't make it right, or good. At first, it might be hard to differentiate those that know from those that don't, but your experiences will help you sort them out.
Harold